9 Jan
2024
9 Jan
'24
9:38 a.m.
I just wanted to provide some clarifications and professional suggestions
on this proposal. For those who don't know me, I am Omni's soon-to-be
former bookkeeper / finance person. I am not opposed to this proposal at a
"high level" but there are things that should be considered.
Silver also shared this with me last month: 2021 delegates meeting with
summary "agreed to hire Operations Coordinator
(eventually) ":
https://omnicommons.org/wiki/Event:2021/03/11_Delegates. More discussion
was done the week before
https://omnicommons.org/wiki/Event:2021/03/04_Delegates. Operations
Coordinator shakes out to be the same thing as Executive Director.
As someone who was part of the discussions around the Operations
Coordinator role (which was conceived partly in the context of Omni's
initial efforts to refinance), *saying that it is the "same thing" as
Executive Director is actually inaccurate.* There was a lot of discussion
at the time about whether it would be the same as an Executive Director,
and the consensus was that it would very much NOT BE an Executive Director
role, with the ability to make unilateral "executive" decisions. That was
why "Coordinator" was included in the title, Having an "Executive
Director"
is actually new territory for Omni.
The closest thing was when Emily was hired in December 2022 as "Finance
Manager" after delegates decided that giving her an "Executive Director"
role was too much power, among other reasons.
- Jamal has a lot of organizational and professional
experience, and
connections to city officials and orgs who may help. His primary immediate
strategy is to try and get our lender to give us another extension.
It is a bit awkward to read this, as we have received multiple
communications from the lender through our lawyer that there would not be
another extension. However, if someone new wants to give it a go, maybe the
results will be different? But I am skeptical. However, I have been told
that my natural skepticism is a personality flaw. At the very least, I
would hope that Jamal has been forwarded / filled in on all the
communications to date on this topic.
- *How can we pay for it?* Jamal has offered to fund
the position himself
for the most part (current proposal, some small monthly fee ~$250, with the
rest of the money coming from a percentage of what he raises). This is a
big deal for Omni, which has almost no funds right now!
Here's the professional guidance, as someone who has worked in the
"nonprofit industrial complex" for the past two decades ... being paid a
percentage of fundraised income is really counter to "best practices" and
is generally frowned upon by most "aligned" non-profit fundraising
professionals. There are numerous reasons to avoid a contract where a staff
person is "paid a percentage of what they raise." Some of them are legal
regulations about "private inurement" -- which I believe Jesse can explain
to you.
In general, having a staff person responsible for "raising their own
salary" is something that is frowned on, because it creates a lot of stress
for the staff person, and it is tied into equity issues. However,
considering Jamal being hired for this role is an effort to create/improve
equity (in the DEI sense, not in the financial sense), it does make things
more complicated and worthy of discussion.
Sincerely,
Sarah L
9 Jan
9 Jan
2:16 p.m.
Thanks for this info. Yes it was wrong for me to say ED was the same as
Operations Coordinator. As discussed in the meeting, this ED role would
have a lot of decision making power, not just coordinating working groups.
So it would be a big change for Omni.
I am not very hopeful about the trust giving an extension, but the points
made were that it would be the easiest option to pursue and (obviously)
accept, and there's not really any harm in trying? Also the trust has not
yet begun foreclosure. Is that correct? Also tangent question - how would
we be notified when foreclosure begins? Mail, or paper notice? Or through
Jesse?
The equity part was not brought up. I'm seeing what you mean about it being
a generally frowned upon practice in searching online and it makes sense.
One thing that makes it more understanding in our scenario to me though is
given it is a short term role (I believe 2-3 months) for the specific
purpose of saving the building from foreclosure. After which, Omni could
decide to not hire again for the role or go back to looking for an
Operations Coordinator.
Paige
On Tue, Jan 9, 2024, 9:39 AM Sarah Lockhart <sarah.ee.el(a)gmail.com> wrote:
I just wanted to provide some clarifications and
professional suggestions
on this proposal. For those who don't know me, I am Omni's soon-to-be
former bookkeeper / finance person. I am not opposed to this proposal at a
"high level" but there are things that should be considered.
Silver also shared this with me last month: 2021 delegates meeting with
summary "agreed to hire Operations
Coordinator (eventually) ":
https://omnicommons.org/wiki/Event:2021/03/11_Delegates. More discussion
was done the week before
https://omnicommons.org/wiki/Event:2021/03/04_Delegates. Operations
Coordinator shakes out to be the same thing as Executive Director.
As someone who was part of the discussions around the Operations
Coordinator role (which was conceived partly in the context of Omni's
initial efforts to refinance), *saying that it is the "same thing" as
Executive Director is actually inaccurate.* There was a lot of discussion
at the time about whether it would be the same as an Executive Director,
and the consensus was that it would very much NOT BE an Executive Director
role, with the ability to make unilateral "executive" decisions. That was
why "Coordinator" was included in the title, Having an "Executive
Director"
is actually new territory for Omni.
The closest thing was when Emily was hired in December 2022 as "Finance
Manager" after delegates decided that giving her an "Executive Director"
role was too much power, among other reasons.
- Jamal has a lot of organizational and
professional experience, and
connections to city officials and orgs who may help. His primary immediate
strategy is to try and get our lender to give us another extension.
It is a bit awkward to read this, as we have received multiple
communications from the lender through our lawyer that there would not be
another extension. However, if someone new wants to give it a go, maybe the
results will be different? But I am skeptical. However, I have been told
that my natural skepticism is a personality flaw. At the very least, I
would hope that Jamal has been forwarded / filled in on all the
communications to date on this topic.
- *How can we pay for it?* Jamal has offered to
fund the position himself
for the most part (current proposal, some small monthly fee ~$250, with the
rest of the money coming from a percentage of what he raises). This is a
big deal for Omni, which has almost no funds right now!
Here's the professional guidance, as someone who has worked in the
"nonprofit industrial complex" for the past two decades ... being paid a
percentage of fundraised income is really counter to "best practices" and
is generally frowned upon by most "aligned" non-profit fundraising
professionals. There are numerous reasons to avoid a contract where a staff
person is "paid a percentage of what they raise." Some of them are legal
regulations about "private inurement" -- which I believe Jesse can explain
to you.
In general, having a staff person responsible for "raising their own
salary" is something that is frowned on, because it creates a lot of stress
for the staff person, and it is tied into equity issues. However,
considering Jamal being hired for this role is an effort to create/improve
equity (in the DEI sense, not in the financial sense), it does make things
more complicated and worthy of discussion.
Sincerely,
Sarah L
10 Jan
10 Jan
8:53 a.m.
To answer the question:
how would we be notified when foreclosure begins?
Mail, or paper notice?
Or through Jesse?
You can search the real estate index at the Alameda County Recorder online
access website for any documents with the party name of "OMNI COMMONS"
https://rechart1.acgov.org/
There are currently 4 documents with the party name of "OMNI COMMONS." When
the foreclosure process starts there will be more documents recorded such
as "Notice of Default" or "Substitution of Trustee''. 90 days
following the
Notice of Default a "Notice of Trustees Sale" will be recorded and after
the trustees sale, a deed such as "Trustees Deed" will be recorded.
On Tue, Jan 9, 2024 at 5:16 PM Paige P via sudo-discuss <
sudo-discuss(a)sudoroom.org> wrote:
Thanks for this info. Yes it was wrong for me to say
ED was the same as
Operations Coordinator. As discussed in the meeting, this ED role would
have a lot of decision making power, not just coordinating working groups.
So it would be a big change for Omni.
I am not very hopeful about the trust giving an extension, but the points
made were that it would be the easiest option to pursue and (obviously)
accept, and there's not really any harm in trying? Also the trust has not
yet begun foreclosure. Is that correct? Also tangent question - how would
we be notified when foreclosure begins? Mail, or paper notice? Or through
Jesse?
The equity part was not brought up. I'm seeing what you mean about it
being a generally frowned upon practice in searching online and it makes
sense. One thing that makes it more understanding in our scenario to me
though is given it is a short term role (I believe 2-3 months) for the
specific purpose of saving the building from foreclosure. After which, Omni
could decide to not hire again for the role or go back to looking for an
Operations Coordinator.
Paige
On Tue, Jan 9, 2024, 9:39 AM Sarah Lockhart <sarah.ee.el(a)gmail.com> wrote:
I just wanted to provide some clarifications and
professional suggestions
on this proposal. For those who don't know me, I am Omni's soon-to-be
former bookkeeper / finance person. I am not opposed to this proposal at a
"high level" but there are things that should be considered.
Silver also shared this with me last month: 2021 delegates meeting with
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summary "agreed to hire Operations
Coordinator (eventually) ":
https://omnicommons.org/wiki/Event:2021/03/11_Delegates. More
discussion was done the week before
https://omnicommons.org/wiki/Event:2021/03/04_Delegates. Operations
Coordinator shakes out to be the same thing as Executive Director.
As someone who was part of the discussions around the Operations
Coordinator role (which was conceived partly in the context of Omni's
initial efforts to refinance), *saying that it is the "same thing" as
Executive Director is actually inaccurate.* There was a lot of
discussion at the time about whether it would be the same as an Executive
Director, and the consensus was that it would very much NOT BE an Executive
Director role, with the ability to make unilateral "executive" decisions.
That was why "Coordinator" was included in the title, Having an
"Executive
Director" is actually new territory for Omni.
The closest thing was when Emily was hired in December 2022 as "Finance
Manager" after delegates decided that giving her an "Executive Director"
role was too much power, among other reasons.
- Jamal has a lot of organizational and
professional experience, and
connections to city officials and orgs who may help. His primary immediate
strategy is to try and get our lender to give us another extension.
It is a bit awkward to read this, as we have received multiple
communications from the lender through our lawyer that there would not be
another extension. However, if someone new wants to give it a go, maybe the
results will be different? But I am skeptical. However, I have been told
that my natural skepticism is a personality flaw. At the very least, I
would hope that Jamal has been forwarded / filled in on all the
communications to date on this topic.
- *How can we pay for it?* Jamal has offered to
fund the position
himself for the most part (current proposal, some small monthly fee ~$250,
with the rest of the money coming from a percentage of what he raises).
This is a big deal for Omni, which has almost no funds right now!
Here's the professional guidance, as someone who has worked in the
"nonprofit industrial complex" for the past two decades ... being paid a
percentage of fundraised income is really counter to "best practices" and
is generally frowned upon by most "aligned" non-profit fundraising
professionals. There are numerous reasons to avoid a contract where a staff
person is "paid a percentage of what they raise." Some of them are legal
regulations about "private inurement" -- which I believe Jesse can explain
to you.
In general, having a staff person responsible for "raising their own
salary" is something that is frowned on, because it creates a lot of stress
for the staff person, and it is tied into equity issues. However,
considering Jamal being hired for this role is an effort to create/improve
equity (in the DEI sense, not in the financial sense), it does make things
more complicated and worthy of discussion.
Sincerely,
Sarah L
300
days inactive
301
days old
2 comments
3 participants
participants (3)
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Paige P -
Sarah Lockhart